Adelaide
Lenna always knew she was different than her parents and siblings. Ever since she could remember, she's known she didn't quite belong in this family or this small no-name village on the outskirts of Fox's Forest. Her parents were human, like a third of the population of their small village. The others were mostly halflings and gnomes. She had an older sister and two younger brothers. Her family was poor, like most of the other families in the village. She often went hungry since there were plenty of other mouths for her parents to feed. Some days, she found wild grown fruits or nuts in the nearby woods to sate that hunger. She might have lived in that village for all of her days, but a travelling hedge witch changed her fate. The crone looked older than anyone she had ever seen. She waddled into the village with a hunched back and slackened jowl from the loss of most of her teeth. Though the old woman appeared to be feeble and half blind, her stare seemed to see right through Lenna. Starled, Lenna ran off to the forest to hide. From behind the cover of the bushes, she saw the witch knock and bring her mother to the door. With a sudden need to vanish, Lenna ran deeper in to the forest. "Whose child be that one?" the crone croaked, pointing at the girl running away. "She's my second daughter, Lenna," the weary woman shifted her youngest to her other hip, "What's she done now?" "Be she always troublesome, then?" the crone dug further. "Oh she's been a handful since she was born." Having found a willing audience, Lenna's mother bitterly complained. "Her birth was a hard one for me and I was bed-ridden for three days after. Even as a babe she was tempermental and willful. Now that she's five, she's practically uncontrollable and always shirks her chores by running off to the woods. I tell her father she needs more discipline but he's too busy out in the woods himself to bother with the little ones. So I've got to make do." The crone patted the woman's arm in sympathy, "This be good and bad news then, for you. That 'child' not be yours. It be a changeling switched with your own babe when she was born." She went on to confirm with the incredulous mother all the signs pointing to her conclusion. Yes, the mother was semi-conscious in those first three days after the birth and did not see her babe much during that time. Yes, when she did finally remember holding the child, she was a frail and small thing compared with her siblings after their births. Yes, she was wild and untamable no matter what the parents tried. And finally, she exhibits thoughts and emotions particularly unchild-like. The crone gradually convinced the poor mother that her second born was not really hers. "Leave it in the woods, all be better if it be gone from here." She waddled out of the village after her warning. Lenna returned that night to a much changed house. She was barred from sleeping on the bed with her siblings and had to content herself by the kitchen hearth. Her parents seemed more cautious around her and watched her every move. She thought nothing much of it. It merely confirmed her own understanding that she was different. Several times over the course of the next couple of years her father especially took her to the woods to gather wood or berries or mushrooms. Though it was rather odd that he would lose track of her during those trips, she never faultered in finding her own way back (even ahead of him on a couple of occasions). Her siblings shunned her more than before, most likely as a reaction to her parents' avoidance of her. During her solitude, she often practiced communing with the animals and plants in the forest, with moderate success. She grew to be able to even command some plants to grow rapidly and grab on to other plants or animals. She felt a growing connection to nature as the years went on. On Lenna's eighth birthday, she was surprised with a rare treat. Her father took her in to Marble Narrows on a borrowed mule cart to buy her a present. Her mother and siblings watched warily by the door until they could no longer be seen. The ride took most of the day. By late-afternoon, Lenna and her father arrived at the small city of over a thousand residents, the biggest gathering of people Lenna has ever seen. She was taken to a fancy toy shop and told to look at (but not touch, reminded the stern looking shopkeeper) all the toys and pick out one to take home. As she engrossed herself at going over every item, she lost track of time and her father. Eventually, by nightfall, she was alone in the strange town with nowhere to go. After a few days of wandering and begging for scraps, Lenna saw an opportunity to change her fate again at the town's biggest inn. A travelling farmer delivering crops to the city brought along his wife and young daughter. They stopped at the inn for the night. Just before dawn, Lenna snuck in through the kitchen up to the guest rooms that the farmer's family occuplied. She lured the girl, who (luckily) was also fair of skin and dark of hair, down to the garden to play before their expected departure after breakfast. After coaxing the girl to a corner, Lenna entangled her within the grass and vines that rapidly grew at her behest. Taking care to both immobilize and silence the girl, Lenna attempted her best to imitate the girl's looks. She helped herself to the girl's wardrobe, complete with a big straw hat to half hide herself from more careful scrutiny. Expecting their daughter, the farmer and his wife suspected nothing. She stayed as Elsy in Tael for a few years, honing her powers over manipulations of the mind as well as nature. Another opportunity soon found her working for a merchant family as a scullery maid when the farmer took his family on a trip to Darkstone, at Elsy's suggestion. Fortunately, she rose quickly in station and became the merchant's second daughter within the fortnight. This impersonation was the most difficult to date as the daughter had auburn locks which required great concentration to maintain and much manipulation of those closest to her. Over time, she was able to allow it as well as other features to closer mimic her own without drawing undue attention. Tess was an mostly timid and unimpressing girl who grew to be an equally timid and unimpressing young woman. Though those who had known her in childhood would say she has changed greatly in appearance in those few years as she bloomed. Not out of the ordinary as girls often change much during those delicate years between the age of twelve and sixteen. Soon, however, being a timid nobody in a small unimportant household grew increasingly tedious and boring. One day, on a beautiful summer day, Tess simply disappeared right out of the manor. No one had even seen her leave. Adelaide was a most accomplished lady in Darkstone's best society. She was the distant cousin of somebody important, though no one quite remembered whom exactly. For half a dozen years she's been seen at the most prestigous events and amongst the most important people, leading society in fashion and decorum. Strangely, though, there seemed to be some odd occurrences surrounding her. She seemed to be surrounded by malevolent spirits who caused minor inconveniences such as faint noises, small objects moving on their own, or even an unexpected breeze. The former effects were treated as novelty while the last merely made Adelaide even more desirable as the breeze enhanced her greatly by either adding movement to her often loosely flowing hair or threaten to lift up her dress above the proper height. The most desturbing of the rumored effects were the varius spirits claimed to have been seen around her. These spirits were all said to be females of varying ages, the youngest of which was about seven or eight years old. Inquiring minds do not, however, ask an accomplished lady of Darkstone's best society direclty what this might mean. Instead, one would, of course, make private investigations. It was the result of some extensive investigations that lead Adelaide to liquidate what she could and secure a one way trip through the Rune Gates to the newly discovered world of Sanctuary.